$$$Pýø`_.,,,,._`ø?$$$$$$Ù'$$ ._`ýÀ$$$Ùø'_.,,,,._`øÀ$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $Pø ,d$$Pø^ø?$$$b.`À$Ù' _.`$ $$$b.`P'.d$$Pø^ø?$$$b. `$$$$$$$Ùø' `øÀ$$$$ $ Úl$$$$l $ ;$$$$l; .¿$$P $ $$$$l;Úl$$$$l $ ;$$$$l; ;$$$$$'SYSTEM FAILURE `$$ $ $$$$$$; ' d$$$$$PÚl$$$$l $ $$$$$P$$$$$$; ' d$$$$$P ,$$$$$ IS: $$ $ Àl$$$$$,_`'ýý7$$';$$$$$,_` $$$$$$Àl$$$$$,_`'ýý7$$',$$$$$$ $$ $t.`4$$$$$$$7%,_ + `4$$$$$$$$$$$$P'. `?$$$$$$7%,_ úd$$$$$$$ $$ $'øÙ+ ~~øýÀ?$$$$b,`'ú ~~øýÀ?$$$lb,`'`úúú`øýÀ?$$$$b,`À$$$$$$ Logic Box $$ $ $$$$$ `t. `$$$$$;$$$$$ `+ `$$$$$;$$$$$ `t. `$$$$$; `$$$$$ Pinguino $$ $ $$$$$; `$l ;$$$$$$$$$$; `$ ;$$$$$$$$$$; `$l ;$$$$$ $$$$$ Darkcactus $$ $.`?$$$$, `',$$$$?'`?$$$$, `,$$$$?'`?$$$$, `',$$$$?' ;$$$$$ K. Cochrane $$ $$b. 'Ù??$$$&&À'_,t,. 'Ù??$$&&À' .t._ 'Ù??$$$&&Àø'_,t$$$$$$ Mr. Sonik $$ $$$$$y* _.,,,,._`ý'`'_.,,,,._ øÀ$$$$b. ú ú ú.¿t7$$$$$$$$$ Saint skullY $$ $$$$?'.d$$Pø^ø?$$$b.d$$Pø^ø?$$$b.`4$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Spanish Prince $$ $$$P d$$$$l ; `$$$$$$$$l ; ;$$$$l; ýýýý $$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$ $$$ ;$$$$$; À $$$$$$$$; ' d$$$$$P%%%%%%$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$ $$$ $$$$$$$, `+++++yyyo ',d$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$'''''''ø4$ $$ $$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ý'_,d$$$$$$$$$$ **** $$$$$ $$$_`$$$$$; $ $$ $$$ $$$$$'øýÀ?$$$$,d$$$Pý^ý?$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. $$$ l$$$$$ $ $$ $$$ $$$$$ $7%y¿¿ d$$$$? l$l `$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$l $$$ ;$$$$$ $ logo by $$ $$$ $$$$$ $$$$$$ $$$$$l $$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ø4$$$$,`' ,d$$$?',$. darkcube $$ $$$ $$$$$ $$$$$$.`4$$$$,`ø',d$$l' $$$$$$ , 'Ù??$$$&&À' ,t$$$o, [tll/phdn] ,t$$ $$$yyyyyyy$$$$$$$o, 'Ù??$$$&&À',gtyyyyyyy$$t¿,,,,,,,Ú7$$$$$$$$$t¿,,,,,,,Ú7$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$t¿,,,,,,,Ú7$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ .----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | System Failure: Issue #10 | `----------------------------------------------------------------------------' Yahoo, issue 10! Lots has happened lately, most noticeably the obvious lag in getting sysfail.org back to working order. skullY assures us that it will be up and running before issue 11 comes out. Until then, there's a mirror of the site at http://www.penguinpalace.com/sysfail/ .... In other news, one of our longest-standing friends, Spanish Prince, is now a member of System Failure. While he doesn't meet some of our preordained requirements for membership, his recent struggle for freedom of speech (explained in detail in his article below) symbolize everything that we stand for. We've also begun preparations for DefCon 6, to be held at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV from July 31-August 2, 1998. For more info, go to http://www.defcon.org/ .... Our DefCo 6 planning page is at http://www.penguinpalace.com/sysfail/defcon.htm. Much thanks goes to Darkcube for the excellent opening ascii, and to is0crazy (619) for the "www.sysfail.org" banner graphic included in this issue's archive. Enjoy the issue! --Logic Box [3/31/98] .----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | http://www.sysfail.org/ | | [sysfail@syfail.org] | `----------------------------------------------------------------------------' .----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | CONTENTS | | SysInfoTrade by SysFail Staff | | The Spee vs. Raymond Saga by Spanish Prince | | Reverse Searches on Unlisted Numbers by RedBoxChiliPepper | | My Day at the Telco by Qbert | | A Brief Look at x86 Assembly Language and Memory Addressing by BarKode | | Racism Sucks by Mr. Sonik | | Call-Home America Update by Dark Hour | | Stop the Spam! by Vect0r | `----------------------------------------------------------------------------' <-------+ | SysInfoTrade +----------------> staff@sysfail.org --"Dewdle #uno" by Pinguino and edited by Logic Box. Follow the adventures of Pinguino, Logic Box, and Darkcactus as they rumble through the world of slapstick comic book humor. Definitely check it out. It's $1.50 with $3.00 s/h (priority mail). Xeroxed, 18 pages, 8.5x11. Check the site soon for ordering info. --We -still- have black "System Failure" and "Thank You for Abusing AT&T" stickers. $1/each --www.iirg.org is now online! The International Information Retrieval Guild hosts Cybertek Magazine, Phantasy Magazine, and the IIRG Tech Journals, among a variety of other things. If you're interested in technical information, get ready to sit and read for about 2 weeks straight.. --Another site you should check out is www.antionline.com. They talk to the people who hacked NASA, the Pentagon.. and also host #hackphreak on undernet. --Sean O'Brien (Spee) is suing his school district for $500,000. He put up a site called www.raymondsucks.org with personal info about his evil band teacher. The school suspended him for over a week, and recommended him for expulsion. Sean retaliated, so go check out the results at www.raymondsucks.org and send a letter of support. --New web format called XML was approved by the w3 consortium.. it's an easy way to organize database information and works hand in hand with HTML. Expect to see more programs with XML used in it in the next year or so. --AOL is reopening a service called AOL Enterprise, designed for corporate use. Sounds like it's just dialup accounts with access to customised screens and Instant Messager. YUCK. --The moon isn't made of cheese, but contrary to popular belief, there is water on the moon. An unmanned vehicle, Lunar Prospector, has discovered ice on the poles in an attempt for scientists to learn more about our neighbor. --NY wants to take rights away from artists who sell their paintings on sidewalks but forcing them to apply for a permit. "If I apply for that permit, I'm basically giving up my First Amendment rights, and that's what this issue is all about," says Robert Lederman in a CNN interview. "We won a big lawsuit in 1996 in a federal court which said that artists don't need a license or permit to sell on public property." Lederman has been arrested 29 times for selling in front of New York's metropolitan Museum of Art. Opposers say that the museum is part of Central Park, therefore not public property. --Project Chicken Nuggets: the project that McDonald's pheers. Well anyways, the object of this project is to combine the efforts of phreaks, hackers, school teachers and your parents everywhere to provide up to date scans of 800 numbers and help out everyone by providing numbers to call and numbers to crack. Main objective here is to pull together resources and put out 800 scans once every two weeks and eventually maybe a monthly zine. We need people to help us. You need to be able to dial a phone and identify at least 10 numbers for us every 1.5 weeks. For more information about this project or a small donation of your time to help, e-mail juantawn@yahoo.com --Remember RBCP's department store phones article from System Failure 3? Well, those nifty LRT guns described in the article have changed. Target's new LRT guns now ask for your employee ID number, so don't plan on running amok at Target with LRT guns anymore, dammit. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Spee vs. Raymond Saga by Spanish Prince (spee@sysfail.org) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Hi and stuff or something or other. As you may or may not know, I am Sean O'Brien, the kid who wrote that webpage about Raymond Walczuk, which recently received a lot of publicity because my school tried to suspend and expel me for making this page. I'm going to go through what led up to me creating the page and what's going on right now in relation to he federal lawsuit. The main reason I decided to make the website was that I was upset at all the unfair crap Raymond Walczuk was giving me. Before this page was made, he already thought I was a bad kid. On many occasions, whenever something went wrong that had to do with band, he would call me into his office and bitch at me on end about why did you do this don't do it again etc. On one of these occasions, in October 1997, my friends and I were sitting in the stands at a football game. Someone got water thrown at them and accused my friends and myself. We denied all involvement, but this student, who is the band president, decided to take matters in his own hands, and bitched at us for throwing water at him. We didn't do it, but since we had cups of water in We get back to the school after the game, and all 5 of us are called into Raymond Walczuk's office. He bitches at us for "causing trouble" and saying stuff like "Ask any teacher, Sean O'Brien is the cause of 90% of the problems in this school" and other slanderous comments. Needless to say, I did not like him saying these things, but decided not to yell back at him since we were not being "punished" for doing nothing. About 2 months after this, in December of 1997, a student put some stickers that said "WHS BAND" on the clock in the hallway leading to the band room. After doing this, my locker was open and they put stickers in my locker. Raymond found out about the stickers and had my locker searched. He then called me into his office, and in traditional Raymond form, shook his head and scoffed at me. He said that these stickers were found in my locker and that no one else has these stickers. Bullshit, every member of the band got these stickers you fucking idiot. What basically happened was that he referred me to the assistant principal to have me suspended, which she did. Neither one of them listened to my side of the story. How fair my school is!#$*&!@%*&!@$ The page went up in the beginning of February, 1998. It was originally hosted at www.en.com/users/prince and basically told about these and other incidents involving Mr. Walczuk, and some other opinionated comments about his demeanor. I originally showed it to my friends and no one else. This page stayed like this, not being accessed by anyone other than my friends, until March 1998. In March, 1998, I asked Max Glantzman of Omni-NET Internet Services if he could host the page and if we could get the domain raymondsucks.org. He offered to host it for free. I accepted this, and registered raymondsucks.org. Around this time, I told a student about the page, and from there it was e-mailed to a lot of band students. This is when the address was given to Mr. Walczuk. He went to the library computers, and on March 5, 1998 he accessed the page. He then told the principal and assistant principal about the page, and they tried to take me out of class, except for the fact that I was sick and not in school. They called my dad at work, and told him that I made this "bad bad baaaaaaaaaaaaaad" webpage about Mr. Walczuk. My dad called me at home and told me about this. On March 6, 1998, I was called into the assistant principal's office. I knew exactly what this was going to be about, and went in with a prepared defense. She told me that what I did was wrong, and that I would be suspended for 2 weeks and that she would recommend that the superintendent expel me. Needless to say, I was furious and told her look here, this is not on school grounds and you can't suspended me for this. She basically said, who cares, I'm suspending you anyway. I complained and complained but it got no where. She also threatened that Mr. Walczuk might "initiate legal proceedings." She then told me I had to remove the site and to do it right now. She made me go to the library computers and take it down, which I did. I then went to all my classes and told them I would be suspended and to get what stuff I would need to stay up with the class. The suspension was going on while my dad was talking to attorneys about what we were supposed to do. We obviously appealed the suspension, and the hearing for the appeal happened on March 11, 1998. The assistant superintendent, who hears appeals, decided that the 2 weeks was fair, and that the superintendent could still expel me. We had been advised that they would probably expel me after the 2 weeks. The attorneys that my dad had been talking to referred us to two lawyers who specialize in First Amendment-type cases. On March 15, 1998, my father and I met with these two attorneys. We explained all about the website, the suspension, the recommendation, and all that jazz. They then agreed that my rights were violated, and that we were going to file suit in federal court that week against the school to get me back in school, be able to make up all the work and tests, and not have me expelled. We were going to file on Wednesday of that week while the attorneys worked out the paperwork and all that stuff. On March 18, 1998, we filed suit with the school. The school tried to get me to change my mind about filing this by saying that I would not be expelled. Didn't matter, we were going to file suit since they suspended me and tried to get rid of my free speech rights out of school. Part of the lawsuit was a temporary restraining order against the school which would get me back in. The judge granted this on that day and ruled that I be allowed to make up all the work that I missed, be put back in school the next day, and said that I could put the webpage back up if I so pleased. This was a big victory for the case. Free Speech won. Tyranny lost. YaY! At around this point, the media found out about the story and I did many interviews, TV and print. These were on the news that night, and in the paper the next morning. The school looked like a bunch of idiots since they tried to quash my free speech. I went back to school the next day and was treated I guess somewhat differently by the teachers, some positive, some negative. On March 20, 1998, a teacher wore a t-shirt saying "Walczuk, the real victim." Bullshit. I was the fucking victim. I was suspended, I was almost expelled, I had my free speech violated. I am still in band, but I had already decided not to be in it next year. Walczuk and myself do not speak to each other, and I hope it stays that way. He doesn't need to speak to me, and I don't need to speak to him. The school wants to settle and for all this bad press to go away, of course. As of this writing, they have until April 3rd to reach a settlement or else this goes to trial.... Make sure to read the next issue of System Failure to hear what happens.... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Reverse Searches on Unlisted Numbers by RedBoxChiliPepper (bac@bright.net) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Every so often you have obtained someone's phone number but you have no idea who it belongs to. You run it through several internet reverse-search engines to no avail so you have to think up another way to find out who the number belongs to. Here is a small list of different techniques that are very effective. We'll be using Dino Allsman's newest phone number as an example which is 618-258-8454. Just pretend you don't know his name. 1. Call up 618-258-8454 and wait for Dino to answer. When he does, say in a cheerful, professional voice, "Hi, this is Dave from Domino's Pizza and I'm just calling to tell you that you're our winner in this week's random drawing for a free delivery of one 16" three topping pizza!" DINO: Huh? YOU: (slowly) My name is Dave and I work for Domino's Pizza. Every week we pick a number at random to receive a free pizza to promote our delivery service. You have won. Would you like a free pizza right now? DINO: Hell yeah! YOU: Okay, what 3 toppings would you like? DINO: Pinapple, ham and black olives. YOU: How gross. Could I get your address? DINO: Yeah, it's 301 Bowman Street. Hold on, I got another call...(click) ....(click) It's those fucking cocksuckers again with the cellayer phones. I told 'em I'd give 'em a hundred dollars. YOU: Uh, okay. And your name? You get the idea. This one seldom fails but if it does, proceed to step 2. 2. Time to try Domino's Pizza the other way around. Using some internet phone books, find the numbers to all the local pizza joints in Dino's city. First call Domino's, then try Pizza Hut, then everything else if those two don't come up with anything. When they answer, just say you want to order a pizza. They'll ask you your phone number, type it into their computer and then they'll usually read off your address for confirmation. Then ask them what last name they have on the account. Some pizza places only store the address so there might not be a name but at least you got an address. You might also want to ask what apartment number they show just in case there is one and they didn't read it to you. And just to make sure that you're getting correct, current info from Domino's, ask them when the last delivery was made to that address. Most of the Domino's and Pizza Hut computers will show this, along with the total cash amount that the customer has spent. They may think it's weird that you want to know, but convince them to do it anyway. If they don't have Dino's address in there, then Dino isn't a pizza lover. 3. Using internet search tools again, get a listing of all the video rental stores in Dino's city. Pick one at random and when they answer, ask if they can check your account to see if you have any late fees to pay. They will usually ask for your phone number to pull up the account but some of them will ask for your name. Just make something up and when they can't find your account, ask if they can look it up by phone number instead. If they're not able to look you up by phone number, hang up and try the next video store on your list. When they pull up your number, they'll either ask you what your name is or they'll say, "And you're Mr. Allsman?" to which you reply "yes." If she asks you what your name is, just make something up and she'll get a little confused and say that she's showing another name on the account. Fortunately, the average video store employee is not trained to be suspicious of calls like this. Say, "Hmm, that's strange...what name are you showing there?" And write down her answer and say, "Oh yeah, that's my roommate!" If you only got their last name, you still need the first name and address. Tell her that the account is actually under your parents/roommates name and you need to find out if your name is on there so you can rent something. Hopefully she'll read off the list of names authorized to rent movies on that account. Once she told me that only my parents' names were on the account and I asked what my parents' names were and she told me. If none of this works, call back later and try to get a different employee to try for you. Now you still need the address. At this point, you should probably hang up and get the rest of the info later just to avoid suspicion, but if you think they're not getting too annoyed with you or too suspicious, carry on. Tell the video lady that you just moved and you want to make sure she has the current address on your account. Hopefully she'll read the address to you. Then ask if she's got the right apartment number on there just to be sure you get the complete address. 4. You STILL haven't got it? Jesus, you suck. So let's try the fraudulent calling card method. Call up Dino and when he answers, state that you're from [local phone company] and that their calling card has been shut off because it's surpassed the monthly limit of $3000. Of course, he'll freak out so you'll have to calm him down. Ask who you're talking to and hopefully he'll tell you. If he says, "Well, you should know, you called ME." Then reply, "Well, smartass, we're not allowed to give out any personal information regarding an account until we're sure who we're talking to." and hopefully he'll buy it and give you his name. Write it down and then ask to confirm his address in the same manner. Then tell him how fucking dumb he is and hang up. 5. If this didn't work, you need to call up his phone company's billing office and try to weasle information out of them which is getting harder and harder every day. There are two scenarios to choose from. You can either pretend to be the owner of the phone number or you can be a phone company employee. BELL: Thank you for calling Ameritech, how can I help you? YOU: I'm having problems with my phone and need some help. BELL: Okay, could I have your phone number, area code first? YOU: Hell no, I'm going to give you the prefix and suffix first and THEN I'll give you the area code. 258-8454. 618. (This is to show the bitch who's wearing the pants, of course) BELL: Okay, and you're Mr. Allsman? YOU: Yeah, I'm Kenny Allsman. BELL: Hmmm, is Dean your dad then? I don't show a Kenny on the account. Sadly, it's usually not that easy, especially if Dino's number is unlisted and/or there's a password on the account. But sometimes even if there's a password, they'll give you the first and last name before they ask you what the password is. The best thing to do is to just keep calling the billing office over and over until one of the operators gives you a little bit of information. Then use that small piece of info to get more info, etc. Makes the calls one after the other and hope that the operator doesn't make a note on the account that someone keeps calling in, trying to get his info. (This happens.) You can also pretend to be an employee of Bell, calling from a different department or a different state. Most commonly, I claim to be an operator from a different state, trying to access the account. Like in Dino's case, I'd call the Ameritech billing office in Illinois and claim to be an operator in Michigan, trying to get a listing. Bell Atlantic is the easiest because there are so many states and they're not able to access each other's records. Pacific Bell is divided into Northern & Southern California, so you claim to be from the other half. BellSouth is able to access the records for all of their states, no matter where they are, so you just tell them that for some reason you can't access a record in that state and you want to know if they can try it for you. There are too many scenerios to explain in this article, but here are a few ideas: BELL: Thanks for calling Ameritech, how can I help you? YOU: Hi, this is Steve from the residential office in Michigan. BELL: Hello. YOU: Hi. I just need to get a listing for 618-258-8454. BELL: Okay.... (type type type) I show that as an unlisted number belonging to a Dean Allsman in East Alton, Illinois. YOU: Okay, and the address? This is the weird part. Each individual operator seems to have their own set of rules when giving out information. Some will give you the full name and address with no problem, some will only give the name, some won't give you anything at all. Some of them will want to ask you your name and callback number to verify that you exist or some will just want your employee code. No matter what happens, just keep cool and if it comes down to it, explain that you're a new employee and you'll have to consult your supervisor, say your goodbyes and hang up. Then immediately call back and try again. The key is calling back until you get what you want. The worst that can happen is that they'll flag Dino's account. BELL: Thanks for calling Ameritech, how can I help you? YOU: Hello? Is this the CNA office? BELL: CNA? No, I'm in the business office. YOU: Ah, I'm sorry. This is Dan with the MLAC, I must have gotten a wrong extension or something. Do you know if the CNA is closed today or something? Because every time I try to call their office, I end up getting residential billing. BELL: No, I don't THINK they're closed. Is there something that I can help you with? YOU: Yeah, that'd be great! Could you give me an address for 618-258-8454? For some reason my computer won't pull it up. Different Bell companies call MLAC different things. Some might refer to it as "FACS" and some might just know it as "Assignment" so you might have to explain to the lady exactly what MLAC is. So those are the ideas that I use whenever I need a little CNA. I know the list isn't as complete as it could be, but if you try each one of the ideas listed, you're bound to get what you're looking for. And if you don't, you're either really unlucky or you're terrible at social engineering and you need to find a new hobby. If you know of any other ways to get the name & address off of a phone number, please e-mail me at bac@bright.net because I'm always looking for new ideas. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My Day at the Telco by Qbert (qbert@sekurity.org) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- So I stride up to the complex at fifteen hundred hours. It was surrounded by chain-link barb-wired fences. I noticed many security features, including locked dumpsters, electronic gates, and cameras. The huge monolith which has amazed me since my first reading of Phrack towered in front of me. There were doors on the side of the building two stories up that had no steps. If you were to walk out these doors, you'd just fall straight to the ground. Odd? Yes, but who cares, since it contributed to the "personality" of the building. It was secure in every aspect, as if to prevent certain people from passing through. We all know who those people are, don't we? It's had to be one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. There was absolutely no movement outside. A few cars were scattered in the lot. There was something that just drew me to the building, it appealed to a sixth sense. Fifteen hundred hours and three. I climbed the steps which seemed to lead to a celestial being. Four doors, two pair, "Day Entrance" and "Night Entrance." I, being the prodigy that I am, enter the day entrance. An L-shaped hall seemed to have almost no end. To my left was a desk with an old guard. He had monitors that watched the outside of the complex. Two quad-split monitors. Eight views simultaneously. Five seconds later, monitors switch to the second set of cameras. Eight more views. "Yes?" the guard mumbled. "Hi, I'm Shawn ----, I'm here for a tour." "We don't give tours." "It was arranged through a woman named Kitti-Jo." "Who?" "Kitti-Jo." "Hold on, also, you're going to have to check that camera in here. No photographs are permitted." The grumpy man picked up the handset of an old phone and dialed a few people. No luck. He called the God of the complex, Mike Outlaw. I heard some noise from the receiver and then the guard hung up. "Okay, just hold on a few minutes." While nervously waiting, I read the board behind him. It seemed like things hadn't been changed on it for decades. Something gave the place a seventies-like atmosphere. It seemed like no one had walked those halls in years. Anyway, I read the billboard. Several public notes. One sign read "No visitors past this point with out an escort, signing-in, and a visitor tag." I waited for five minutes. I tapped my foot. Soon, the guard gave me a tag to clip on and then I had to sign a check-in book. Mr. Outlaw arrived. He was a husky man, a bit of a hermit. He didn't seem to get out often. Mr. Outlaw had on a shirt that hugged his belly, and a pair of khaki slacks. His shirt was unbuttoned and a tank top was revealed. He wore a reddish mustache. We shook hands. He started walking fast, there was a door on the right. There was a combination door where you have to push in buttons simultaneously. Mr. Outlaw had it opened quickly, and we walked through. The lights were dimmer. Rows and rows of patch panels, wires, routers, computers, line raceways, and numerous other devices lined the room. The patch panels reached up about twenty feet. Ladders were attached to a track in the middle of the rack. Outlaw explained what they were for and the words "North Carolina information superhighway" seemed to flow from his lips. I saw men roaming the room like mad scientists. Soon, about twenty racks down (these racks were about thirty feet long), we reached a few desks. There was a camera and a TV sitting on a rack. He explained was it was for. It was to test point-to-point classrooms. This is where classrooms in Point A can communication with classrooms in Point B hundreds of miles away. We walked to the back of the room. Tons of patch panels and boxes labeled things like "FSU Fiber" (Fayetteville State University), "Wachovia" (about a thirty-story building which has a bank, and leases lots of offices to other businesses, FBI is in that building also), and "McGilvary St." (the street that this complex was on, it went to the other side of the building for some reason or another). There were quite a few signs that said "Safeguard the DSS before testing on these pairs." I can't remember what DSS stood for, but it was upstairs. It handled the long distance calling. Outlaw explained the fiber nodes and all. There was hardly enough room to walk. From there, we came upon a stubborn combination door. He couldn't get it open, so he used a master key. In the next room, there were some old things. Nearly two-hundred batteries sat on wooden racks. They supplied back-up power for telephone lines. They have to be filled with electrolyte solution often. On the wall, there was protective equipment like masks, absorbing towels, aprons, a shovel , and a bunch of other stuff. To the right of the battery racks there was about forty (twenty back-to-back on each side) devices. They stood about six foot tall, and bore the label "Lucent." They had an LCD that showed the voltage of certain things, and the status of the systems. Two were inoperable. Above me was located a huge air conditioning system. It was still hot in the room, and a thermometer read ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. Soon we passed through yet another combination door. This was it. The headquarters. In front of me there was a huge set of patch panels. You couldn't see through the wires were so dense. A janitor pushed his mop thing around. We walked past the panels, and on our left was one of the advanced service systems. It was a voice mail type deal, not very big. In a dark room next to us were the ATM switches. He didn't talk much about those, but it was just a huge set of boxes anyway. We past that, and there it was. Let me emphasize, THERE IT WAS. Eighty-three AT&T 5ESS switches. I could have fainted. There it was, for me to look at and abuse with stares. LEDs lined the top of the system. After looking around there, we talked to a few technicians. Outlaw and I walked over to the DSS system. It handled all outbound long distance calls. Words like redundant and alert were used. In front of the row machines were a few desks which faced them. It had some old computers and printers. On one of the systems the "Critical Alert" LED was on. It was because it was turned off. Whenever something bad happens, they have an alert system. I believe there are about four levels of alert, which change that speed of the light and "dong" sound it makes. The faster the light and "dong," the more serious the alert. We talked about ISDN and all. I met one technician I felt really sorry for. He was a middle aged man. He had a sad face, and walked with a slow limp and had his arm tied to his chest. I thought it was just temporary and he broke a few bones, but I was wrong. He was just hired again two weeks ago. He had been a long-time veteran at this building. I guess something drew him to it also. His wife died last Easter, and his daughter died also. Both of cancer. Attempting to build happiness, he went and bought the biggest Suzuki motorcycle he could find. He was in a wreck and went through a windshield. He has no feeling in his arm, and he could barely walk with his right leg. Outlaw told me all about it. Then another tall and slender technician talked with me. Outlaw disappeared into the 5ESS system. We went into a small control room where there was about five terminals. One of them was a Windows terminal, another DOS, and another UNIX. I didn't mess with the others. The technician brought me over to the main machine. It was the messenger of the Gods. It was the machine connected the 5ESS. I made an outbound call from a phone calling my work place. Sixteen hundred hours. The guy, showing me the system while was on the phone, "watched my call." Numbers and letters lined the screen, showing me what number I called, what number I called from. He pulled a book out from the shelf and looked up the prefix. "Your call was routed through the Morganton Rd. office." I asked him about tracing. He said he'd have to call that office and he could lock a trace. "Welp, my shifts over, later." Outlaw wobbled back into the room. We rode a few elevators, they had doors on both sides, they were used to move equipment around. We went down to the basement. Opened a few combination doors, and put on protective masks. "Sometimes the fumes down here are pretty bad." Three more doors. There was a huge generator, bigger than most rooms. It's muffler was about fifteen feet long and six feet top to bottom. "It's diesel fueled." We walk out and tossed the masks onto a table. Chillers, air conditioners, everything. He explained how the fourth floor was deserted, and how manual- operator switching equipment is still up there. I would have loved to go through that. Instead, we walked through a few more rooms. We were in the main cable room. "Millions of pairs," he said. "We still have lead trunks from decades ago, don't even know if they use them anymore." He explained how they have to torch open the trunk to work on the wires. Many splicing boxes lined the cables. They were about a foot long. Huge cables were to my right, left, and above me. We walked up some steps onto a platform. "Lot of history to this building," I said. "Yeah, see that coping you just crossed?" "Yes." "You just walked from the new part of the building to the old part." On the outside of the building, difference in architecture is noticeable. The old part of the building is in the front. It's 30s-era, where operators used to plug cables. The division, about thirty feet down, it about 70s-era. The operators still worked in the new part. The installed 5ESS around 86, I was told. "Back during the wars, the government declared this a fall-out shelter. They stored food and supplies and everything in these cable rooms. Every time there was a nuclear threat, more stuff in the building." "Wow." I saw a hole in the wall about a foot in diameter. I asked what it was for. "A long time ago, they used to have to pull cable through the holes since it was high up. They unscrew the panel on the outside. Haven't used it in at least twenty years." Outlaw told me about how all the cables went down to the manhole. We walked through the executive part of the building downstairs where all the cubicles were. Nothing great. Outlaw shook my hand, and I left, giving my "Sprint/Carolina Telephone & Telegraph Visitor Tag #00001" clip-on to the guard. He gave me my camera. For some odd reason, I wanted to cry. Don't ask me why. "This is my manifesto...." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A Brief Look at x86 Assembly Language and Memory Addressing by BarKode (barkode@slackware.org) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- OK, for those of you who have ever done any ASM coding at all, this will be no news for you, but anyone who has ever wondered a bit about the internal workings of the x86 and Pentium CPUs, hopefully this BRIEF tutorial will provide you with a little insight to the way CPUs address memory and execute instructions. Also, we will be doing example code which can be compiled with TASM or MASM for DOS-based machines. Also, this thing was written at like 5am after coding C for like 10 hours so I might be in the wrong mindset, so bear with me. Also, there is MUCH more detail to all of this, this is a very general tutorial leaving much to be explained, but that's not what we're trying to do here, I'm just trying to give a general idea of what assembly is all about. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of your system. It takes instructions and does exactly what it is told. No more and no less. It understands binary code, and provides an outlet for software to access and manipulate memory in order to get things done. Inside your CPU, there are special areas called "registers", in which your CPU can hold data. Decisions are made depending on the data held in these registers on what your system is supposed to do. These registers are "AX", "BX", "CX", and "DX", each a 16-bit data storage area inside the CPU. Also, each register contains a high and low area, such as the AX register contains "ah" and "al", the high bits and low bits of the register. Each register is similar; however, each also has a special feature that only it can do, but we won't get in to that. Anyway, data can be moved directly to these registers and manipulated there. When BIOS and DOS load, they load into memory segments code referred to as "interrupts". They do most of the grunt work on your computer, such as disk access and video control. You can access these registers directly and use them to tell interrupts what you want them to do. For instance, this is example assembly code to tell DOS to print a message to the screen. code segment org 100h Werd Proc start: mov ah,09 'put the value 09 into ah lea dx,TextString 'Load memory address of TextString into dx int 21h 'Call DOS services (Print String) int 20h 'Close program Werd endp TextString db 'Hello World!$' 'string to print end start Let's break this program down line by line and look at it. #code segment This line tells the assembler that this segment of code is the program segment, where the program resides. Other segments such as the data segment exist, but are beyond the scope of this introduction. #org 100h This line tells the assembler this program is to start at memory address 100h (one hundred in hexidecimal). Since this program will be a COM file, we need to start at the top of what we call the "Program Segment Prefix", an area in memory where things like the last DOS command line executed reside. #Werd Proc The name of our main procedure will be "Werd". :) #start: Just a label, which will eventually tell the program where it is supposed to start executing. #mov ah,09 This puts the value of "09" into AH. When we call interrupt 21 later, it will look to AH for an instruction of what it's supposed to do. "09" means it's supposed to print a string. #lea dx,TextString This code loads the memory address of our variable "TextString" into the DX register. Int 21 will look here for the address of the text it is supposed to print. The text is terminated by a "$". #int 21h Call DOS services. Interrupt 21 is one of the interrupts where DOS does grunt work. It listens on interrupt 21 for a call, then looks to the CPU for what it's supposed to do. We've put "09" there in AH, so when it looks there, it will know it is supposed to print a string. DOS then looks to the address pointed to in DX, and prints the string terminated by a $. #int 20h Close Program. This is one way of terminating our program, and releasing control back to DOS. #Werd endp Our procedure is over. #TextString db 'Hello World!$' TextString is a variable name, and we are defining it (With DB, or "Define Byte") as being "Hello World!$". We put a dollar sign at the end of this string to tell dos to stop printing here. #end start This tells the assembler this is the end of code, and the program should start at the "start" mark. That program should compile to just 22 bytes. ********************** So, are you any clearer on ASM than you were before you read this? Maybe not. Are you interested? If you are looking for a book, you might want to check out "Assembly Language, Step by Step" by Jeff Duntemann. This is an interesting book, and the author takes some strange steps at demonstrating and teaching math types other than the standard base 10 system. Some people don't like it, but it's nice if you haven't done hex math before. Also, "The Zen of Assembly Language Programming" is great for advanced topics, like optimization for different CPUs. Learning assembly is not only good knowledge to have, it can assist you in many ways using computers and programming. Hexidecimal, Octal, and Binary math are all intricate parts of ASM programming, and if you have a knowledge of these already, you've already taken the first step towards a better understanding of just "how that thing sitting on your desk really works." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Racism Sucks by Mr. Sonik (sonik@sysfail.org) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Have you ever noticed a white person who was afraid to talk to a black person? I have; I see it almost every day at work. One thing I have never seen is a black person who was afraid of a white person. That pissed me off. Black people become offended, from what I have seen, when white people start stereotyping blacks from the minute they see them. One night I was approached by a customer at work, a white female upper class white-collar professional, the type of person who you would think is well- educated and has a fairly open mind. This woman asked me if I could tell another customer (black by the way) who was "scaring her" to leave the store property. I was a bit shocked, and it must have shown when I looked at the woman. I replied by stating that as a usual customer who always pays for his merchandise, and whom I have spoken to many times, that he was allowed to finish his cigarette outside of the store before entering. I asked the woman if he was panhandling or harassing her, she said that he never even came close to her, let alone speak to her. I was ready to smash this woman's face into the wall at this point for being an ignorant sterotyping bitch, but I held out. I simply explained that unless he had been harassing her or any other customer, and that he wasn't soliciting or loitering, that there was not a lot I could do about this big scary black man. She responded by saying "OK, then I will speak to your manager" and walked inside the store to try and get me in trouble for not being racist or something. The manager asked all the same questions that I had, and told her the same story. She simply left the store in a fit and got into her 1997 Cadillac and drove away. The point of that story should be pretty clear; if not, let me explain. I can see where some black people are coming from when they complain about racism. Although the two people never exchanged a word, the black man did know what was going on and he was angry because this woman was stereotyping a human being based on the color of his skin. Both the manager and I talked to the black man about what was going on and apologized to him. He accepted the apology, paid for his merchandise, and left. The point is that racism hurts everyone. This is true, not just a t-shirt that someone made up because it sounds cool. Allow me to explain. First off, the black man was obviously offended by the white woman. Personally, I was also offended by the white woman by the way she makes white people appear offensive to blacks in general; the store's image as a comforatble place to shop was hurt as well. How can you expect a person to be comforatable shopping while others are staring at you because of the color of their skin? I know if people were always staring at me for some petty reason like that, I would be uncomfortable to say the least. It is probably enough for some people to cause them to become total hermits and stay at home all the time. What I am trying to say is, give someone the respect they deserve until they prove themselves otherwise. Give someone a chance... if they piss you off, then don't get mad at the type of clothes they wear, the color of their skin, or the number of chins they have. Everybody deserves a chance, whether they are fat, skinny, pretty, ugly, brown, yellow, black, white, red, green, blue, orange, purple, or what the fuck ever. Be a human being--use your brain and think about your actions a little before you piss off the wrong person. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Call-Home America Update by Dark Hour (darkhour@underworld.net) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ok, Call-Home FINALLY wised up after years of abuse, so there's a new technique to abyoozing them now. This doesn't work every time, so you might have to try a few times: Call and set up an account following the directions from my article in System Failure 1. Now, instead of telling you your 800 number at the end, they will tell you they aren't allowed to give it out over the phone and you'll receive it in the mail in 10 days or some shit. If they haven't already given it to you, ask for the customer service number. Wait a few hours and call customer serivce, and say "Yeah, this is [whatever name you used] and I set up an account about 3 weeks ago and I still haven't received my welcome packet." Follow their lead a little bit; they'll say it shows that the account was just set up that day. Assure them that this is not the case. Depending on how much of a bitch your operator is, she'll either give you your 800 number right then and there, or she'll tell you that they'll mail it out. Like I said, this doesn't work every time, and sometimes you get a real schmuck operator. Lemme know if this stops working or if you find out something else not included here. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Stop the Spam! by Vect0r (vect0r@toledolink.com) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This article will discuss some ways on stopping unwanted e-mail. Spam is a method of flooding the internet by forcing large amounts of mail to people who really don't want it. A lot of spam comes from gay ass companies trying to sell their gay-ass products. A lot of spam attacks start from USENET, where you can find a ton of mailing lists, e-mail addresses, etc. Spam is annoying, can cost users both time and money, and eats up network resources. Anyone who uses e-mail or runs a mail server should take the proper precautions. First I will talk about sendmail. Sendmail, which is an electronic mail transport agent, can be used to stop spam. It is very important that you control who can relay mail through your server. A lot of major attacks on networks have been brought about by attacking a network, and forging e-mail so it looks like it has come from within the domain. # HELO somewhere.uNFuNFuNF.com # MAIL FROM: # RCPT TO: # DATA # spam! # . # MAIL FROM: # RCPT TO: # DATA # spam! # . # QUIT There is a way to stop this. Scheck_mail will verify the destination that the site is attempting to deliver mail to is not fake. Scheck_mail will also reject mail from sites. If you have never heard of procmail, you should read this. Procmail is a very powerful tool for Linux for processing e-mail, and does tasks like filtering and informing you of new "formail" which is a part of procmail that does tasks like recognizing duplicate messages. I think the current version is 3.11pre7 but I'm not sure. If you just installed Linux, procmail was most likely already installed for you. Once you have compiled procmail, you should edit your .forward file to include the following line: "|IFS =' '&&/usr/local/bin/procmail -f -|| exit 75 #LOGIN (where LOGIN == your login name on the computer) Next you would create a recipe file which is used to filter mail. This file is called .procmailrc which tells procmail what to do. That's all I feel like telling you about. =) Procmail is rather easy to use and set up, and you should be able to figure it out yourself. If all else fails, read the man pages. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- That's all for now. Keep checking http://www.penguinpalace.com/sysfail/ for updates on the status of sysfail.org, the Spee saga, DefCon 6 planning, merchandise info, and our ever-growing #peng photo gallery. Issue 11 will be out in mid to late April. Wewp!@#$% =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-E-O-F-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-